Final Thought: Sparks from Few'll Ignite Sound

Final Thought, August 2010 Some of you might know that I’ve been studying Tai Chi for over a year now. I am studying the “nei da quan” or internal martial arts of Tai Chi, which means that I am studying … Continued

They are building some high rises about a kilometre from my apartment. At night as they weld the steel together, I can see the sparks cascading down, just like they did when we used to play with sparklers as kids … Continued

Car alarms are chirping, buzzing, screaming. The fire crackers have been going off regularly here in Beijing for the past fifteen days. It’s Chinese New Year. That doesn’t just mean the day; it means the first half of the lunar … Continued

I’ve spent the last two weeks translating in a tiny recording studio tucked into a heavily subdivided hutong (alley) here in the Beijing lake district called Hou Hai. The neighbours are curious about me and the tattooed collection of dreadlocked … Continued